GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Because he was foaled in the Southern Hemisphere, Dominguin was eligible to run in last month's UAE Derby in Dubai. Considered a 4-year-old here, he will make his North American debut Saturday against older horses in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park.
He is one of 11 horses expected for the Texas Mile, which will share a program with the $75,000 Grand Prairie Turf Challenge and the $50,000 JEH Stallion Station Stakes.
STICKNEY, Ill. - The Illinois breeding industry might not be booming right now, but there are some gifted Illinois-breds scattered about the country, and several are converging on Chicago for the six $100,000 Illinois-bred stakes races on Saturday at Hawthorne.
The Vessels family, founders of Los Alamitos Race Course, are among the newest inductees to the Racehorse Hall of Fame at Ruidoso Downs.
The Vessels family - Frank Sr. and his wife, Grace; Frank Jr. and his wife, Millie; and former American Quarter Horse Association president Frank "Scoop" III and his wife, Bonnie - also developed Vessels Stallion Farm, the home of all-time leading sire First Downs Dash.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Some two weeks after the fact, racing fans are still talking about the wild race that Miss Norman ran in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
"I sure had a lot of calls about it," said the filly's owner, Greg Norman, a California businessman.
B L's a Runner, who displayed a great deal of promise in his four starts at 2, makes his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut against a formidable group in Friday's $45,000 Naked Greed Stakes at Calder. The six-furlong overnight dash drew a field of eight.
won his debut by 7 1/2 lengths and an entry-level allowance by 4 1/2 lengths here last year. His only two losses came in stakes dominated by division leader In Summation - a fifth-place finish in the Birdonthewire Stakes and a second-place effort in the six-furlong Dr. Fager.
Ready for Roses was named champion 3-year-old colt and horse of the year on Saturday, when the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners honored the leading statebred runners of 2005 at Thistledown.
Ready for Roses's two stakes wins last year came against older horses in the Governor's Buckeye Cup at Thistledown and the Best of Ohio Endurance at Beulah Park.
Ben's Reflection was awarded his third consecutive title as champion sprinter, and was also named the leading older male.
Guy Smith and Sylvester Carmouche Jr. were both injured in a nasty spill at Evangeline Downs last Saturday night, and each faces a lengthy recovery period. Carmouche will be out for a couple of months while his broken leg mends, while Smith will be out even longer while he recovers from a fractured vertebra in his neck, which fortunately did not produce any paralysis.
Habaneros was made the 5-2 morning line favorite for Saturday's $100,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes at Fonner Park by assistant racing secretary and handicapper Wayne Anderson.
Eight horses were entered on Wednesday morning for the 1 1/16-mile stakes, which is the showcase event of the meet.
Habaneros found himself bottled up in traffic entering the far turn when he prepped for the Bosselman in the Dowd Mile on April 8. He shook free and found his stride late but could not run down Tonight Rainbow. Cindy Noll-Murphy will again ride Habaneros from post 5.
Turf is the theme of the Retama Park stakes schedule for Thoroughbreds, with 10 of the 15 races to be run on the grass. The stakes for the upcoming season, which begins Aug. 11, will be worth a cumulative $1 million.
The $100,000 El Joven Stakes for 2-year-olds and the $100,000 M2 Technology for 2-year-old fillies will both be run over one mile on turf Sept. 2. They are the richest open-company races on the calendar at Retama, which is located near San Antonio.
George Taylor, a two-time winner of the Oklahoma Classics Day Classic, heads a starter allowance race Friday at Will Rogers Downs. He drew post 9 for the one-mile race, which will go as the eighth on an 11-race card. Nena Matz, who leads all riders at Will Rogers, has the mount on George Taylor.
Matz has won 34 races from 172 starters and her mounts through Tuesday have earned $308,905. Curtis Kimes and Alex Birzer are each tied for second in the standings with 31 wins this meet.
